Data in electronic circuits may be stored in memory, for example, semiconductor memory. Examples of memory include volatile memory, which is limited to storing data while power is provided to the memory, and non-volatile memory, which can store data even when power is no longer provided to the memory.
Non-volatile memory typically have memory operations, for example, read, write, and erase. Data is retrieved from the memory by “reading” the data while data is stored to the memory by “writing” the data. Memory addresses are provided to the memory and decoded by internal address decoders included in the memory to identify the particular memory to be read or written. Erase operations are used to clear data from memory, given that data may be stored indefinitely until “erased.” Non-volatile memories may be structured to have erase operations occur at various levels of memory. For example, the memory area in which data is stored may be segmented into sections of memory and data for an entire section of memory may be erased during erase operations. Additionally, in some memories the sections of memory may be further segmented into memory sub-sections so that data can be erased at the level of memory sub-sections rather, than entire sections of memory. The design of the memory area may be influenced by whether per section or per sub-section erase operations may be performed.
Non-volatile memories have become more popular as mobile and compact electronic devices, for example, mobile phones, digital cameras, portable computers, and other such devices, require storage of information even after the electronic device is switched off. Generally, it is desirable to design non-volatile memories to have compact circuitry, which can be advantageously used to design memories of greater capacity for a given space, or to make the memory smaller to allow for an electronic device including memory to have a smaller form factor. It is also generally desirable to design the memory circuitry to be efficient and use less power so that less battery power may be used during operation.
Therefore, alternative memory circuit designs that may provide greater circuit density, smaller size, and/or lower power consumption is desirable.